Milk and a Kiss
by Drowning Insanity
Summary: OneShot. Ryoma learns something about milk. Requested by Sweet Obsidian Rain.


**Disclaimers:** Prince of Tennis rightfully belongs to Konomi Takeshi. If it were mine, I would have killed off Horio by now. XD

**Author's Note:** This one-shot was requested by Sweet Obsidian Rain, who managed to guess one of us, Drowning Insanity. She wanted a Thrill Pair one-shot which was LONG. This Thrill Pair one-shot has _1,038_ words… and Transfer said that 1,000 words was LONG enough… XD ...And thanks to Transfer for the title. Silent was stuck on that... XD

* * *

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! 

A muffled moan sounded below the covers on the bed. A head burrowed out of the blankets and revealed a young boy with dark-green hair sleeping peacefully. He furrowed his brows at the sound of the alarm clock and withdrew his hand and forcefully slammed the alarm off. His arm slumped back onto the top of the covers, and the boy continued to sleep peacefully, undisturbed.

"Meorw!"

"K-Karupin!" cried the sleeping boy as he abruptly jumped out of his covers and captured the male feline into his hands.

"Meorw…" purred the Himalayan cat as he rubbed against his master's chest. Echizen affectionately patted it on the head before placing it carefully next to him as he stretched his arms into the air, awakening from his slumber. He blinked his eyes a few times as he stared at his digital clock before getting up to change for the usual Sunday morning.

Placing on a white t-shirt and black shorts, he grabbed his tennis bag and white Fila cap, with Karupin sauntering after him. Ryoma headed downstairs towards the kitchen to find his cousin busily preparing breakfast at the stove and his father reading the Sunday "newspaper".

"Good morning," he said monotonously as he pulled the chair out to sit on, placing his belongings next to his feet that barely touched the floor.

"Ah, Ryoma-san, good morning!" cheerfully greeted his cousin, Meino Nanako. She got out a plate and placed it on the table, in front of him. Carrying the pan, she used the spatula to scoop out two pieces of ham and scrambled eggs. Hurriedly she prepared the toast to perfection and placed two bottles of milk.

"Eat up, Ryoma-san! You should always start the day with a nice breakfast!" Echizen, however, stared at the Western breakfast as if inhuman.

"Oi, seishounen!" called his father, Echizen Nanjiroh, "You better eat that or else I'm going to take away your tennis rackets!"

"Shut up," muttered the freshman under his breath, and reluctantly he dug into his breakfast, poking the ham with his fork. "Why does every breakfast have to be Western, anyways?"

"Auntie likes Western breakfasts, Ryoma-san," explained Nanako as she began washing the dishes, "And Inui-san also suggested this menu, and it must be good for you in order for you to play tennis."

"But drinking milk doesn't help at all. I'm still going to stay this short for a while," pointed out Ryoma as he began munching on the toasted slice of bread, chewing slowly.

"Ryoma-san should drink anyway," gently spoke his cousin, "It's good to drink milk everyday."

"I'm done," announced the male as he gathered his things and placed on his cap, "See you later." And he walked to the front door, closing it lightly.

"Ryoma-san should get accustomed to Western breakfasts," she noted aloud as she cleared the table. One bottle of milk remained unopened, and she sighed as she placed it back into the refrigerator.

"Seishounen will never get any taller," said the former tennis pro as he flipped to another page and laughed silently to himself with glee. Nanako noticed this and walked behind her uncle to pull out another playboy magazine.

"Uncle! I'm going to tell Auntie about this!"

"No! Nanako-chan…"

* * *

Irritably Ryoma walked to the street tennis courts and found a secluded spot to practice. Digging through his pockets, he began playing against the wall, furiously returning the ball to warm up. 

"Drinking milk isn't going to make that much of an improvement in my height…I've been drinking for the past four months and nothing changed except for a millimeter…wow…what a difference…" He continued muttering to himself, easily returning the ball when a voice distracted his thoughts.

"Saa, Echizen, what are you doing here this morning?"

Echizen tripped on his own foot and had nearly missed the ball, but was reached by the tip of his racket, sending the tennis ball flying into the air, and landing in the hands of the newly arrived guest. He turned around and tipped his hat in greeting.

"Good morning, Fuji-senpai."

"Same to you, Echizen," replied Fuji casually as he smiled, "Want to play a little match for fun? I thought of practicing some of my tennis anyway."

Echizen's bored expression changed, replacing it with a smirk on his face and a passionate glint to his eyes, "You're on, Fuji-senpai."

It was about an hour later that the match was over, for the two regulars seriously played against one another, to the extent of revealing their special moves. Fuji smiled as he sipped from his water bottle while Echizen fanned himself with his white Fila cap, breathing heavily as he gasped for air. He lay on the cool pavement of the tennis court, his eyes closed.

"I'll beat you next time," said Ryoma with confidence.

"Then why don't you try catching those lobs?" teased his upperclassman, and the boy growled in exasperation. Fuji laughed to himself and placed the water bottle next to him, standing up to stretch as he looked to the sky.

"Because I'm too short," he said to himself lowly as he forced himself up from his lying position, stretching himself.

"So you should try growing, huh?" suggested Fuji, and Ryoma looked to the ground, slightly embarrassed.

"Yea," he answered, quite ashamed. He lifted his head to glare at his senpai when he felt himself locked against the tensai, his lips feeling something soft and tender. Ryoma widened his eyes and soon realized that he was all alone again. His eyes wandered to find the third year smiling unusually; he touched his lips in awe and looked for an answer.

"Echizen, grow taller. Otherwise, it's hard to _kiss_ you."

"What?" He blinked in confusion, _"Did Fuji-senpai say kiss?"_

"I said Echizen, grow taller," repeated Fuji, "Otherwise, it's hard to _get a challenge_ when you miss all those lobs." And with that said, he gathered his things and walked off. "See you at school, Echizen."

* * *

The next morning, Nanako was truly surprised. All twelve bottles of milk were gone after her cousin had departed for school. Closing the refrigerator door, she grabbed her purse from the table top and headed out.

"Ryoma-san is sure drinking a lot of milk today."

**END**

* * *

**Saa**: who knows (although if you fit it in…it doesn't make sense… XD)  
**Seishounen**: youth, young person 

Same rules apply.  
Transfer did not want to write this, for she was lazy and afraid that Fuji would bite her for her terrible Thrill Pair writing skills. XD  
And don't bother Sweet Obsidian Rain for the answer. Because she's smart and deserves this one-shot. XD

Reviews are much appreciated.  
Thanks.


End file.
